Archive for May, 2011

I spent that last day of my Houston area tour with the great kids at Lakeview Elementary, in Sugar Land, Texas! After participating in an Emergency Drill (my third so far) I presented to all the award winners of the Texas Readers Club. I even got to see the Fourth Grade before they went off on their field trip.

I really had a great time and enjoyed your library’s mural with all the cool book characters. I can see why so many of you did so well in the Texas Reader’s Club. If I saw all of those interesting characters every day, I’d want to read about them, too!

Thanks to Mrs. Jones for inviting me and a big thanks to all the great kids at Lakeview Elementary. You and your teachers made my last author visit of the school year one that I’ll always remember.икони

I just returned from a great day at Rummel Creek Elementary in Houston, Texas. I performed my shows in the library’s very cool and very big theater. I had seen similar theaters in other libraries but they had always been too small for my show. This one was the perfect size and it was a lot of fun. I hope everyone enjoyed my performances as much as I enjoyed giving them!

I also got to meet several of the students who worked with the library’s video equipment. They even edited their movies on Macbooks like mine! It was fun watching them perform the morning announcements just like in a real newsroom!

Thanks to Mrs. Harrell for inviting me, to the librarian of the day (Becca Dawson) for the great introduction, and to all the great kids at Rummel Creek Elementary!

I had a fun day today at Austin Parkway Elementary in Sugar Land, Texas. I met a bunch of great kids, toured your cool school with all its wonderful murals, and (between shows), I visited the first three classes who got their library books turned in. I answered some great questions from Mrs. Dante-Smith’s 1st Grade class, Mrs. M. Hall’s Kindergarten class, and Mrs. Dratter’s 3rd Graders. It was fun meeting all the kids who learned that good things happen to those who don’t forget to turn in their library books!

Thanks to Mrs. Hall for inviting me, thanks to Mrs. Mohr and Mrs. Omenson for all your help, and a big thanks to all the great kids at Austin Parkway for a great day!

My second show this week brought me to Meadows Elementary in Meadows Place, Texas. I really enjoyed visiting your open concept school–you know, the kind of school without any walls dividing the classrooms. I enjoyed performing my shows, signing a few copies of my books, and giving a writing workshop to the soon-to-be fourth graders next year. I hope they remember all the tips I gave them when they take their TAKS writing test next year. I know they’re going to be great!

Thanks to Mrs. Puckett for inviting me and thanks for a fun day to all the Meadows Elementary Mustangs. They don’t have any walls to keep them from galloping toward success!

I kicked off my Houston area tour with the great kids of Smith Elementary in Magnolia, Texas! Even though the end of the school year is just around the corner, all the kids were extremely polite and attentive. I had to get everyone going with my patented silly-face face stretches! That got ’em going and they really seemed to like the show. Of course, having a bulldog as their mascot really helped when I asked for their best dog barks (yes, it’s a crazy show sometimes).

Thanks to Mrs. Stanford for inviting me and thanks to all the Smith Elementary Bulldogs for helping me start my Houston tour with a barking success!

For my Kansas City tour’s grand finale, I spent the afternoon with the great kids at Westview Elementary. Hey, I began at Crestview and ended at Westview–almost spanning the alphabet!

I had a great time meeting everyone and signing all the copies of my APWA book, Chipper’s Chilly Chase. I even posed for pictures with one of the classes (send a copy, will ya?). I hope you all enjoyed my presentations (and a few of you already said as much on my Facebook page).

I also hope everyone enjoyed the sneak peek at my APWA upcoming comic book, Rain of Terror–it’s gonna be spooky! Remember, APWA is the one who brought me there and the unseen heroes of public works need all the thanks they can get. So a big thanks to the American Public Works Association and Mrs. Plowman for inviting me. I can’t wait to come back!

Thanks to the American Public Works Association, my last day in the Kansas City area had me visiting TWO schools. In the morning I visited Pleasant Lea Elementary in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Everyone was great here–especially the students! They all had good questions and made tiptop dragon roars. However, I should have asked to hear your tiger roars since your school mascot is a tiger–just like PW Paws, the public works mascot!

Thanks to Mr. Crawford for the technical help, thanks to Mrs. Smith for her help and all the kind words, and a super-dee-duper (as Barney would say) thanks to all the wonderful Pleasant Lee Tigers. Keep roaring and keep reading!

I enjoyed three great presentations at Renner Elementary today! All the kids were great and I even posed for a picture with many of the students for the school yearbook. I especially liked meeting all the aspiring writers in my writing workshop. Keep writing, keep reading, and keep painting the picture with words!

Thanks to Mrs. Cleavinger and the wonderful folks in the Renner PTA for inviting me and thanks to Mrs. Tulipana and Mrs. Rich for all the help and for making my second day in Kansas City a fun one! And an extra big thanks to all the great kids at Renner Elementary! Remember the four words!

What a great way to kick off my Kansas City tour! I had a wonderful first day at Crestview Elementary–home of the Crestview Cheetahs. These cheetahs proved to be just as fast as their reputation with all their great questions. I gave three fun presentations, signed some books, and then went back to my hotel. To my surprise, I already had a few of Crestview students “liking” my Facebook page! They even posted their appreciation on my FB wall.

Thanks to Mrs. Warman for inviting me and thanks for the great author visit, Crestview Cheetahs!

What a great day at Haggar Elementary! I got to meet several bright kids who were surprisingly attentive so close to the end of the school year. I enjoyed performing for all of you and enjoyed touring your school and seeing all you undersea murals. I especially enjoyed your fantastic space alien noises—some of the best yet!

Thanks to Mrs. Prager and the Haggar PTA for inviting me. Thanks to Mrs. Grizzle and Mrs. Jameson for all your help. And a super-big thanks to all the great kids at Haggar Elementary! Enjoy the last few days of school and don’t forget those four special words over your summer break. In fact, don’t ever forget them. You can use those words no matter how old you are!